"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)

Sunday, February 28, 2010

"There are times when you have to obey a call which is the highest of all, i.e. - the voice of conscience, even though such obedience may cost many a bitter tear, and even more a separation from friends, from family, from the state to which you may belong, from all which you have held as dear as life itself. For this obedience is the law of our being." - Mohandas Gandhi

Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Cuban dissident and Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, was born on May 15, 1967. He died in Havana, Cuba on February 23, 2010 at the age of 42 after more than eighty days on a water only hunger strike. During the hunger strike prison officials denied him water for more than two weeks in an effort to force him to end the strike.

Yoani Sanchez spoke with Orlando Zapata Tamayo's mother hours after her son's death on February 23. Reina Luisa Tamayo spoke through her pain thinking of those who remained behind: "I call on the world to demand the freedom of the other prisoners and brothers unfairly sentenced so that what happened to my boy, my second child, who leaves behind no physical legacy, no child or wife, does not happen again."

Orlando Zapata Tamayo is a member of the Movimiento Alternativa Republicana, Alternative Republican Movement, and a member of the Consejo Nacional de Resistencia Cívica, National Civic Resistance Committee.

He has been arrested several times in the past. For example he was temporarily detained on 3 July 2002 and 28 October 2002. In November 2002 after taking part in a workshop on human rights in the central Havana park, José Martí, he and eight other government opponents were reportedly arrested and later released. He was also arrested on 6 December 2002 along with Oscar Elías Biscet, but was released on 8 March 2003.

Most recently, he was arrested on the morning of 20 March 2003 whilst taking part in a hunger strike at the Fundación Jesús Yánez Pelletier, Jesús Yánez Pelletier Foundation, in Havana, to demand the release of Oscar Biscet and other political prisoners. He was reportedly taken to the Villa Marista State Security Headquarters. He has not been tried yet, but the prosecutor is reportedly asking for three years’ imprisonment for “desacato”, “desordenes publicos”, “public disorder”, and “desobediencia”.

He has reportedly been moved around several prisons, including Quivicán Prison, Guanajay Prison, and most recently, Combinado del Este Prison in Havana. According to reports, on 20 October 2003 he was dragged along the floor of Combinado del Este Prison by prison officials after requesting medical attention, leaving his back full of lacerations.

Before moving on it is necessary to revisit the December 6, 2002 arrest. Amnesty in an earlier report offered more details on what happened:

On 6 December 2002 Oscar Elias Biscet González, president of the unofficialFundación Lawton de Derechos Humanos, Lawton Human Rights Foundation, was detained with 16 other dissidents after they attempted to meet at a home in Havana to discuss human rights.(15) This meeting was reportedly part of an effort by Dr. Biscet to form a grassroots project for the promotion of human rights called "Friends of Human Rights." When police prevented them from entering the home, Oscar Biscet and the others reportedly sat down in the street in protest and uttered slogans such as "long live human rights" and "freedom for political prisoners." They were then arrested and taken to the Tenth Unit of the National Revolutionary Police,Décima Unidad de La Policía Nacional Revolucionaria (PNR), in Havana.

There are over 198 nonviolent methods, one of which is the hunger strike. Orlando engaged in a number of these methods with a few outlined above related to past arrests: signed public statement, engaged in a sit-in, participated in teach-ins on human rights. The most powerful and dangerous non-violent method he engaged in was the hunger strike. It is important to take a closer look at hunger strikes.

The Hunger Strike

Start watching video at 46:38 which talks about fasts and hunger strikes in a nonviolent context.

Michael Nagler in the video above from his course an Introduction to Nonviolence filmed in the fall of 2006 offers a great analysis of fasts and hunger strikes beginning at 46 minutes 38 seconds, and is highly recommended for a deeper understanding of fasts and hunger strikes. In the video Nagler offers a word of caution: "Nonviolence is not a feel good operation its very scientific you have to know when to do what."

Nagler's Five rules for Hunger strikes

Have to be the right person for the job. Not to be used by just anybody.

Right audience. (You should only fast against someone who was in sympathy with you on a very deep level. Gandhi never fasted against the British.)

Doable demand

Last Resort

Consistent with the rest of your life

Nagler in his above lecture on nonviolence describes fasting unto the death within nonviolence:

"This is not a case of suicide. You are not killing yourself. You are risking death. What you are doing is putting your life into the hands of another person." ... "You are not killing yourself but you are saying to the person that your behavior is so unacceptable that if you continue it its going to kill me. It is an extreme case of taking on the suffering that is in a situation." ...This is different from a threat because what you are saying to the person is "I am going to exhibit to you mirror back to you the ultimate consequences of what you are doing." ... "This is an act of truth. You are killing us - you are killing our people and I'm going to show you that you are doing it to awaken your conscience."...Thats why you have to be carrying on a conversation on a nonverbal level.

In countries where prisoners’ rights are not fully respected or even completely disregarded, and where torture is practised; hunger strikes may be a last resort for prisoners wanting to protest against their situation.

In the video above human rights activist Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva describes Orlando's demands, prison conditions, and the circumstances surrounding his arrest and time in prison where Orlando was savagely beaten on ten occasions for defending human rights.

Agents of the Cuban dictatorship failed to break Orlando Zapata Tamayo's spirit refusing him water for over two weeks in the midst of a water only hunger strike now they are trying to libel and slander his memory trying to portray him as a common criminal. They will fail again, even though in the past the Cuban regime has been able to sell a lie with their massive propaganda apparatus, because the outrage generated over the reality that the brutality that Cuban prisoners of conscience are subjected has led to one of them demand decent treatment and carry out a hunger strike to the death. This combined with the inhuman treatment visited on the hunger striker that became a contributing factor to his death the reality of what goes on in Cuban prisons have been exposed if only for a moment to the world. It is up to human rights activists and friends of Cuba to hold the Castro regime accountable and provide solidarity and protection to Cuba's human right defenders.

To forgive is not to forget. The merit lies in loving in spite of the vivid knowledge that the one that must be loved is not a friend. There is no merit in loving an enemy when you forget him for a friend. - Mohandas Gandhi

Friday, February 26, 2010

After bureaucratic obstacles prevented him from leaving Mexico bound for Havana, Gorki Aguila, was able to return to the island this Thursday, March 4, at 12: 30pm Havana time.

The leader of the rock band Porno Para Ricardo did not suffer any mishap at José Martí airport , but there was strong surveillance and harassment by members of state security, who remained close to Gorki Águila since he left the plane while they talked on cell phones around him and kept alert to any movements by the musician.

On his arrival they expected, apparently, journalists from foreign agencies, who upon hearing the strong statements of Gorki Aguila about the abuse and neglect regarding immigration procedures faced by Cubans, they requested he speak in a lower tone. At the airport his daughter, members of Porno Para Ricardo, Alain Saavedra, author of the blog Reevolucion 90 and other friends turned.

Update: Cuban bureaucrats blocked him from leaving yesterday. Trying again today March 4, 2010 aboard Cubana Airlines Flight 131 at 9:30 EST arriving at 12:15pm. What is Gorki's take on this? From his twitter account Gorkiaguila in spanish he states "Que tengo derecho a entrar a mi pais, coño!" - I have the right to enter my country, Damn it!The English translation along with minor changes is mine along with the video selected. The original press release in Spanish is at the bottom of the page. Gorki my prayers and best wishes for your safe return to the homeland.

Gorki Aguila tried to return to Cuba on March 3& tries again on March 4

Needs your solidarity

Friday, 26 February, 2010.

Veracruz, Mexico. After an eleven-month stay in Mexico, Gorki Águila, leader of the rock band Porno Para Ricardo, returns to Cuba.

Despite having covered the requirements for entry into the country (payment of monthly renewals to maintain his legal status on the island), it is feared that Cuban authorities will not consent to his entering the country or, in carrying out reprisals against him, as in his detention.

For this reason, we ask all the communications media their attention and get the word out about Gorki Águila’s return to Cuba along with any problems that may arise. The disclosure of these events will be one of the principle defenses for Águila against any kind of violation of his individual rights.

Gorki Aguila departs from the International Airport of Mexico City on Wednesday, March 3 at 8:45 AM, on Flight 131 Cubana de Aviacion and reaches the city of Havana at terminal 3 at José Martí airport at 12:15 PM.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Ahmed Maher and Amr Ali, both leaders in the April 6th Youth Movement, were arrested in the early morning on 16 February as they were driving home from a meeting regarding the welcoming reception planned for Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mohamed Elbaradei, who many activists are calling on to run for presidency in Egypt's upcoming election. Maher and Ali were stopped at a security checkpoint, forced out of their car, and taken to jail. They were charged for distributing political leaflets and painting slogans on a local bridge, claims that are contested by many on the ground. Maher and Ali were able to send text messages to alert others of their detention before officers confiscated their phones. Maher and Ali were denied their right to a lawyer and were not allowed any visitors. Both men were later taken to the courthouse for prosecution. Sources on the ground reported that supporters gathered outside to protest their arrest and were beaten and attacked by security forces in retaliation to their peaceful demonstration.

Their arrest comes on the heels of an arrest of prominent blogger and human rights activist Wael Abbas. Abbas, who often exposes the Egyptian Government's corruption, was accused and arrested on 23 January for tampering with and damaging his neighbor's cable line. The neighbor is a brother of a police officer, and both broke into Abbas' home and assaulted him and his mother last April 2009. Following the April attack, Abbas filed a complaint with the police department resulting in further harassment and eventually leading to this false arrest. It is suspected that these assaults were motivated to respond to Abbas' efforts to expose the two police officers for torturing and raping a bus driver by publishing the torture video. Despite the severe crime, those two police officers received reduced sentences. This is one example of many attempts by the government to crackdown on bloggers who challenge the Government. Most bloggers write anonymously to avoid persecution. Abbas is one of the few who does not.

Another victim of such government restriction on the freedom of expression is Hani Nazeer, a blogger arrested in October 2008. Hani Nazeer, who is a prisoner of conscience and a Coptic Christian, has been detained since his 2008 arrest in response to residents in his city of Qina denouncing him for posting the cover of a book on his blog that they considered insulting to Muslims. Amnesty International, among others, have called for Nazeer's immediate release.

The cases of Maher, Ali, Abbas, and Nazeer demonstrate a growing trend of the Egyptian government tightening political space by targeting bloggers and civil society activists as the Presidential elections loom.

Take Action!

The Egyptian government must know people outside Egypt are watching their actions and will not tolerate injustice toward activists and bloggers who simply are exposing the truth and wish for freedom of expression.

Please send letters to your local Egyptian Embassies or Consulate demanding the immediate release of Ahmed Maher, Amr Ali, and Hani Nazeer and inquiring about Wael Abbass's charges. Please also urge Egyptian authorities to respect citizens' rights to express their opinions freely and exercise political rights.

Therefore in the interests of preserving some of these inconvenient and embarrassing documents, photographs, transcripts, and other records this essay will present the historical context in which Brothers to the Rescue came into existence and the events that led to the shootdown and some of the new information discovered over the past 14 years.

The Cuban government likes to throw around the term terrorist, but does not want to accept when it has committed acts of state terrorism. The rafter crisis like the Germans fleeing over the Berlin Wall was an embarrassment to the dictatorship and like the East Germans there response was brutal. On July 6, 1993 according to The Miami Herald the Clinton Administration denounced the practice of Cuban marine patrols, seeking to stop refugees from reaching the U.S. Guantanamo Naval Base by tossing grenades and shooting at defenseless fleeing swimmers then recovering some of the bodies with gaff hooks reporting that:

A State Department aide called the use of gaffs, usually used to pull gamefish into boats, to pull bodies from the water "an act of extreme cruelty." According to the U.S. protest, U.S. military guards surveying the bay have witnessed five separate incidents: * On June 19 at 2 p.m., U.S. guards, startled by the sounds of detonations, saw Cuban troops aboard patrol boats dropping grenades in the paths of several swimmers headed for the U.S. base. * On June 20 at 1:30 p.m., Cuban troops repeated the action, then strafed the water with machine-gun fire. * On June 26 at 11 a.m., three patrol boats surrounded a group of swimmers, lobbing grenades and spraying them with automatic weapons fire. At least three corpses were lifted out of the water with gaffs. * On June 27 at 11:30 a.m., guards aboard patrol boats lobbed two grenades into the water. * The same day, just before 3 p.m., a patrol boat opened automatic fire on a group of swimmers, who were later seen being pulled from the water. The swimmers' status was unknown.

In the early morning hours of July 13, 1994, four boats belonging to the Cuban State and equipped with water hoses attacked an old tugboat that was fleeing Cuba with 72 people on board. The incident occurred seven miles off the Cuban coast, opposite the port of Havana. The complaint also indicates that the Cuban State boats attacked the runaway tug with their prows with the intention of sinking it, while at the same time spraying everyone on the deck of the boat, including women and children, with pressurized water. The pleas of the women and children to stop the attack were in vain, and the old boat--named "13 de Marzo"--sank, with a toll of 41 deaths, including ten minors.

Angered by a massive anti-government demonstration on the Havana waterfront, Cuban President Fidel Castro warned that unless the U.S. stops offering asylum to fleeing Cubans, he will allow the free departure of those who want to leave the country. That could trigger a repeat of the 1980 Mariel exodus, which saw some 125,000 Cubans arrive in Florida within a few months, overwhelming U.S. officials. Said Castro: "We cannot continue to guard the coasts of the U.S."

Following the July 13, 1995 flotilla Brothers to the Rescue intensified its efforts to promote Gandhian and Kingian civic non-violent resistance to the Cuban exile community in Miami by organizing two day long seminars. At the same time Cuban exiles, among them Brothers to the Rescue, sought to reach out to the Cuban dissident movement on the island. Cuban dissidents had announced on October 10, 1995 the intention to hold a national gathering of the opposition in Cuba on February 24, 1996. The coalition of groups named themselves the Cuban Council. Brothers to the Rescue in an open and transparent manner sent privately raised assistance to this coalition. In the days leading up to February 24 over a 100 dissidents were imprisoned in a nationwide crackdown.

That the Brothers to the Rescue pilots and followers met at a hangar at Opa Locka airport, located in south Florida, in the morning of 24 February 1996, and that at 9:12 a.m. the pilot of the Cessna 337C, registration N2456S, who was the organization’s flight operations chief, began presentation of the flight plans according to visual flight rules (VFR) prior to conducting a rafter rescue flight. However, due to other commitments on the part of some of the pilots, the flight did not leave at 10:15 a.m. as had been planned.

The pilots returned to the hangar after 11:00 a.m. and decided to have lunch before taking off. At 1:01 p.m. the three Cessna 337 aircraft — registration numbers N2506 (José Basulto, Arnaldo Iglesias, Andrés and Silvia Iriondo), N2456S (Carlos Costa and Pablo Morales), and N5485S (Mario De La Peña and Armando Alejandre) — took off to the west at 1:11, 1:12, and 1:13 p.m., respectively.

Once in the air, the three Cessnas contacted Miami AIFSS (call sign Miami Radio) to activate their flight plans. At 2:39 p.m. Cuban air defense radar detected aircraft to the north of Parallel 24N. At 2:43 p.m. two military interception airplanes were immediately prepared at the San Antonio de los Baños airbase. These airplanes — a two-man MiG-29 UB and a MiG-23 ML — were armed with heat-seeking air-to-air missiles and machine guns. They took off at 2:55 p.m. to patrol around 15 to 20 km north of the coast at altitudes of between 200 and 500 meters. The ICAO then concluded, inter alia, the following:

At 15:21 hours on 24 February 1996, N2456S was destroyed by an air-to-air missile fired by a Cuban MiG-29 military aircraft.

At 15:27 hours on 24 February 1996, N5485S was destroyed by an air-to-air missile fired by a Cuban MiG-29 military aircraft.

The recorded positions and track of the Majesty of the Seas, the observations by its crew and passengers, the position of the Tri-Liner relative to the Majesty of the Seas, and the resulting estimated locations of the shootdowns were considered to be the most reliable position estimates.

No corroborative evidence of the position of the Majesty of the Seas was obtained. With this qualification and based on the recorded positions of the Majesty of the Seas, N2456S was shot down approximately at position 23°29N 082°28W, 9 NM outside Cuban territorial airspace and N5485S was shot down approximately at position 23°30.1N 082°28.6W, 10 NM outside Cuban territorial airspace (emphasis added).

- Means other than interception were available to Cuba, such as radio communication, but had not been utilized. This conflicted with the ICAO principle that interception of civil aircraft should be undertaken only as a last resort.

- During the interceptions, no attempt was made to direct N2456S and N5485S beyond the boundaries of national air space, guide them away from a prohibited, restricted or danger area or instruct them to effect a landing at a designated aerodrome.

- In executing the interception, the standard procedures for maneuvering and signals by the military interceptor aircraft, in accordance with ICAO provisions and as published in AIP Cuba, were not followed.

- The Protocol introducing Article 3-bis into the Chicago Convention had not entered into force. Neither Cuba nor the United States had ratified it.

- The rule of customary international law that States must refrain from resorting to the use of weapons against civil aircraft applies irrespective of whether or not such aircraft is within the territorial airspace of that State.

Fidel Castro takes responsibility for the shoot down in an interview shortly afterward

"MX instructs that under no circumstances should German nor Castor fly with Brothers to the Rescue or another organization on days 24, 25, 26 and 27, coinciding with celebration of Concilio Cubano [a planned national conference of dissident groups in Havana], in order to avoid any incident of provocation that they may carry out and our response to it."

It is now interesting to note that yesterday the Cuban Government openly bragged about a pilot who they sent to infiltrate Brothers to the Rescue and returned to Cuba the day before the incident. It is now apparent that that individual, Juan Pablo Roque, transmitted information to the Castro regime about the Brothers to the Rescue's flight plans for Saturday, and so we have here the facts developing of why I say that this act was premeditated murder and it is in fact an act of state terrorism.

You have an infiltrator pilot who tells the regime, Brothers to the Rescue are flying, they are flying one of their search-and-rescue missions, they will be in international airspace but near Cuban airspace, and therefore sets them up as clay pigeons. And you have a situation in which Castro's regime itself was thinking about the possibility of shooting down innocent civilians, asking a former retired general who was in Cuba about the United States reaction to such an event. Hence, the premeditation.

A couple of weeks after the shoot down on March 4, 1996 in a segment aired on PBS Jose Basulto representing Brothers to the Rescue maintained the organization's commitment to civic nonviolent resistance and Betty Ann Browser the journalist gave an analysis of the significance of Brothers to the Rescue nonviolent approach:

JOSE BASULTO, Brothers to the Rescue: We must not waver in our effort to bring assistance and support to those who struggle through non-violent means inside the island. It is there where our first priority lies.

BETTY ANN BOWSER: Basulto supports a third approach to the Cuban question, based on the peaceful, non-violent principles of Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King. Basulto and other Cuban-American leaders believe that organizing flotillas, that by flying close to Cuban air space, and holding demonstrations in a non-violent manner will keep Cuban issues alive in the international arena. Over the weekend Basulto and the Brothers flew near Cuba to memorialize the four dead pilots. In the waters below, a flotilla braved eight-foot seas to remember the young Cuban-Americans. The television pictures were broadcast around the world...

The 2009 CBS4 report raises troubling questions: US military jets had scrambled to intercept Cuban MIG's since at least 1992 and even had scrambled earlier the same day of the shoot down, no jets ever took off from Homestead Air Force base or any other base:

Despite the fact that military officials watched the shootdown on several different radar installations around the country, even as far away as California, and despite the fact two more MIG's chased Basulto's plane to within 3 minutes downtown Key West, the records show that no United States military jets ever scrambled to intercept the Cubans.

Ana Belen Montes was the senior intelligence expert on the Cuban military in the United States when the shootdown occurred she was called into the Pentagon to provide intelligence support. She received a personal call at the Pentagon in the midst of a crisis situation and announced that she would have to leave at 8:00pm and she did. Two rules at the Pentagon in the midst of a crisis: no personal calls and during the crisis you are suppose to stay at your post until your superior deems that you are no longer needed. Both these flags led to the investigation that uncovered a high ranking Cuban mole in the heart of the Pentagon.

Brothers to the Rescue founder, Jose Basulto in a 1998 interview held "the U.S. government culpable by neglect" and the Cuban dictator responsible demanding his indictment for murder adding "Castro can kill me, I'm living on spare time. I have been dead since 1996. They were like my own sons."

Sunday, February 14, 2010

The lunch counter sit-in campaign (although called a movement) began on February 1, 1960 in Greensboro, North Carolina by the end of March 1960 the movement had spread to more than 55 cities in 13 states. The 1960 documentary Integration Report set down on film the mood of the country and the courage of the activists who had set out to put an end to Jim Crow segregation.

People were beaten, imprisoned, and killed in this struggle to bring an end to segregation but despite great sacrifices and hardship achieved this goal via non-violent means. The end of segregation and the passage of the 1965 National Voting Rights Act were achieved through non-violent means, and were the high water mark for the Civil Rights movement.

Unfortunately the unfounded belief that violence could achieve more led to the emergence of the Black Power movement, the black panthers, and the sidelining of the non-violent movement for the sterile and impotent riots that would destroy inner cities and wreak economic havoc.

Diane Nash, a great pioneer of nonviolence from the sit-ins to the Selma march, rejected nonviolence and took up with the siren call of Black Power. Nash described her reasoning:

"If we've done all this through nonviolence, think what we could do if we were just willing to be urban guerrillas and knock over a few banks. [...] "Of course, ten years later I looked up and I hadn't knocked over any banks and I hadn't been a guerilla. I hadn't even been to the rifle range. But I had withdrawn from this painful, creative engagement with nonviolence and democracy behind a big smokescreen of noise."

Malcolm X, one of the leaders of the black power movement, in the video above accuses Martin Luther King Jr. of being paid and subsidized by the white man to maintain African Americans defenseless. He went on to accuse Rev. King of being an "Uncle Tom." Reverend King in the video below responds to the charges laid out by Malcolm X arguing that he has confused non-resistance with non-violent resistance.

Fifty years later with an African American president in the White House thanks in large part to the legacy of the nonviolent civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. and on the other hand the legacy of riots and violence encouraged and fueled by the Malcolm X's and Stokely Carmichael's of the black power movement has left a legacy of economic and social ruin in the inner city and an explosion in crime.

Anyone suffering from injustice and oppression should take a long hard look at the fruits of these two movements and choose nonviolence. A strategic approach to nonviolence taken as seriously as so many others take violence have and could yield positive results which leads to the final video below which deals with non-violent simulations and developing a non-violent strategy.